Your Future as a Faculty Member: How to Survive and Thrive in Academia

How are the human and institutional systems fundamental to succeeding in academia?

In graduate school we are trained how to be scholars, and maybe how to be effective teachers. But there is much more to being a college or university faculty member-and most of it is left to figure out on one’s own. This job isn’t hard because the core scholarship is hard, but because of the complex mix of activities that scholars must figure out how to juggle. These are dominated by human and institutional structures within departments, universities, societies, and professional communities. Succeeding and thriving as an academic calls for developing wider, non-academic insights and skills into how these operate and how to operate effectively with, and within, them. Functioning as an academic is about the relationships we develop with our communities of students, campus colleagues, professional peers, and our university administrative and support staff-the people who enable faculty members to function.

Your Future as a Faculty Member: How to Survive and Thrive in Academia is organized into four sections, each focusing on one aspect of the human systems that are fundamental to succeeding as an academic. Section 1 starts in the center with new professors, as they build their career. Section 2 looks at university administrative systems and the staff who manage them. Section 3 focuses on teaching and training roles. Finally, Section 4 looks at wider professional networks outside of university, publishers and academic communities.